Smoking kills yet another Marlboro Man

In this undated photo courtesy of Susan Lawson shows Eric Lawson. Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72. Lawson died Jan. 10, 2014, at his home in San Luis Obispo, Calif., of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, his wife, Susan Lawson said Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014.

Photograph by: Handout photo
, Lawson Family

An American actor has become the fifth former Marlboro Man to die from a smoking-related disease.

Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged cowboy in magazine advertisements in the late 1970s and early '80s, died from a lung condition at his home in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He was 72.

Lawson, who started smoking when he was 14, suffered respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to his wife, Susan.

"He knew the cigarettes had a hold on him," she said. "He knew, yet he still couldn't stop."

At least four other stars of the commercials, which styled filtered cigarettes as masculine accessories from 1954 to 1999, also succumbed to illnesses linked to smoking. Wayne McLaren, who died at age 51 in 1992 after a long struggle with lung cancer, used his status as a former Marlboro Man to mount a lawsuit against Philip Morris, which makes Marlboros, and warn about smoking's health risks.

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In this undated photo courtesy of Susan Lawson shows Eric Lawson. Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72. Lawson died Jan. 10, 2014, at his home in San Luis Obispo, Calif., of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, his wife, Susan Lawson said Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014.

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